Your Chinese bank account can handle wire transfers to any international bank account, but you need to provide the documentation. As a foreigner, you need to show proof that the money was legally earned and taxed in China. This can be provided by your employer's HR, or your CPA if you're a business owner. Chinese citizens can also transfer up to 50k USD per year with much less hassle.

Wire transfer is good for large amounts of money (from about 1000 USD up), because it is generally a flat rate of about 150 RMB per transfer.

The fees are for using the SWIFT system, and will be charged whether or not you open an account with a sister branch abroad. A Bank of China account overseas is, for all intents and purposes, the same as having an account with any foreign bank. There's no advantage there.

Simply pulling the money out at an overseas ATM from your Chinese bank card can actually be quite cheap. I just pulled 1000 USD in the states the other day, and between the fees and exchange rate, it cost me about 70 kuai. I've heard of people mailing a bank card home to friends or relatives to withdraw money using this method. Note that there is theoretically a limit of 100k CNY a year for this method, regardless of citizenship or employment status.

I haven't tried Paypal or Moneygram, but every legal method in China will be subject either to the 100k CNY annual limit, or the same documentation requirements described above. It really just comes down to cost and convenience.

- The bike
- ID or Passport (I successfully registered with my passport)
- The original Fapiao (tax receipt) from the purchase. They might accept a written purchase contract if you bought the bike secondhand, though it's best to include the bike's serial number.
- The 合格证 or certificate of legal production and sale. Every e-bike dealer is supposed to supply one of these at purchase, and it should have the bike's serial number printed on it.
- If the fapiao is made out in your company's name, you need a stamped letter from that company asking the traffic police to register the bike in your name.

I went on the first day of registration. As you can imagine, there were a lot of people without the proper paperwork, and they said they are willing to give a lot of leeway for those cases, but they hadn't worked out all the specifics yet. It's best to just show up to the traffic police station with whatever documentation you have.

These license plates are free of charge.

You can also get the green plates from the various police checkpoints around the city. These have a fee attached to them, as they come with a GPS tracker and theft insurance.

@Ishmael: My impression was that the Bai of Heqing were the builders, making houses in a variety of minority styles all over western Yunnan, and Jianchuan was home to the carpenters who made the best window screens and eaves decorations.

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